The government suffered a heavy setback in the House of Lords after peers rejected its plans to establish English votes for English laws (Evel), voting in favour of establishing a committee to examine and further debate its proposals.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, has rejected a poll conducted by YouGov for the Times showing Jeremy Corbyn on course to win the Labour leadership election, with a 17-point lead ahead of the other candidates on first preference votes.

The Scottish National party defied convention to occupy the Opposition benches in the House of Commons, shortly after party leaders claimed they were the only “real opposition” to the Conservative government.

Labour’s disarray over the government’s welfare policy and the party’s wider divisions over the best response to the general election defeat were underlined when 48 Labour MPs, just under a quarter of the parliamentary party, defied their whips and voted against the welfare bill at second reading.

Labour’s rebel MPs are holding off challenging Jeremy Corbyn for the party’s leadership to allow crisis talks with his deputy, Tom Watson, and the Unite leader, Len McCluskey, to go ahead, in an attempt to prevent further rifts within the party.